0419 THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS PART 2

THE CHURCH  AT EPHESUS, PART TWO

As I mentioned in yesterday’s podcast, the history of the church at the city of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey is going to be a focus when it comes up in the New Testament. Today, we have the second snippet of the church’s history.

There are several happenings in this chapter, so we’ll have to be brief with each part. Remember how Apollos had come to Ephesus, preaching powerfully, but with an incomplete gospel, not knowing about a baptism of the Holy Spirit? We might call that Little Problem #1. 

That leads to Little Problem #2. Paul returns to Ephesus, where he meets a dozen believers who had not heard about the Holy Spirit yet, having received only the baptism of John the Baptist, who of course was gone before the Spirit had been given to the disciples. They were baptized, then Paul laid his hands on them, which was a common practice among Old Covenant priests, and of Jesus himself. They speak in tongues and prophesy. Paul stays in the city, preaching in the synagogue for the next three months.

But as has happened often, there is controversy within the Jewish community, and some Jews oppose Paul’s message. Sounds like Little Problem #3 to me. So Paul moves over to the lecture hall of Tyrannus, an impressive building with space for plenty of people. And here Paul has perhaps his longest ministry, staying two years in this arrangement. And Ephesus, being an influential city, affects the region around it, as well. All’s well, in spite of a little controversy among the Jewish community.

Now we see Little Problem #4: the Seven Sons of Sceva. Scevas was a leading priest, and his seven sons were traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. We can assume that they did so in the name of God, and that they were having some success in using their prayers and incantations. But when they got to Ephesus, they saw powerful miracles being done by Paul in the name of Jesus, and they were impressed. So on their next exorcism, they used the formula, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” The evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit attacked and beat all seven of them up, so that they ran out of the house, naked and battered.

So much to say about this story, but I’ll only ask one question from it: If I were to try such a thing, would a demon know my name? Or might that evil spirit say, “I’ve never heard of you, and I don’t have to obey what you command!” Know that in the hierarchy of spiritual power, demons are at least 7 times stronger than a human. But, thanks be to God, the name of Jesus is infinitely more powerful than that of any demon, including the prince of demons himself. And, best of all, any wholly devoted followers of Jesus tap into that same spiritual power. Just don’t try calling on the name without being fully committed to him, or what happened to the sons of Sceva could happen to you.

If you think that’s kind of scary, you are not alone. The whole city, Jews and Greeks alike, came for a spontaneous bonfire, just to burn any books of sorcery or with incantations. It turns out, many people who follow Christ also seem to have a second secret life. They want to follow Jesus and call upon his name, but they have backup plans of other sources of spiritual power. Suddenly, they realize that this is no game! The books were worth several million dollars in today’s currency. That’s a lot of side hustle for believers to engage in. In any case, they rid themselves of these forbidden things, and the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect. 

So Little Problem #4 was resolved, right? Well, you see, those books that had been worth several million dollars means there was some source of those books making good money. And the sellers of idols and incantation books were none too pleased to have their income disappear. They all get together and vilify Paul and the Christians, especially offended that their great temple of Artemis was being undercut. A riot broke out, to the shouts of “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” There was confusion as to what it was all about, or who the enemies were, partly because there was no sound system with technology to get the word amplified and broadcast. Anyway, a riot was breaking out. Happily, the mayor was able to quiet it down and disperse the crowd. It had been quite a day, but things are settled down for the moment.

Asking the question a different way: Does your god need you to defend it? Or is vengeance the Lord’s, and he will repay? Would you and I cause a riot because of our strong alignment with Jesus, or are we just nice people with a Bible?